Thursday, August 13, 2015

NERF - Sarah Reeves



If you're new here, as a lot of you are, I believe I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that you've clicked on here to see the 'Best Worship Songs of All Time"!!! and the thing you see at the top says 'Sarah Reeves'. You've probably come here to see list of Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, Passion, Delirious, Katy Perry, etc, and the very first thing you see is someone named Sarah Reeves. Well, there is an explanation for that.

Yes, there are plenty of Hillsong, Tomlin and their ilk here on this site - heck, they're all in a list over there on your right.(1) But here at the 100 Best Worship Songs of All Time we take a break every 10 songs to do what is called a 'NERF', which stands for 'Not Enough Room For', as in for some reason these songs and artists didn't make the countdown.

(1) Of course, if you're looking at your screen upside down, the list would be on your left. But why would you be looking at your screen upside down? You're weird. 

Our first NERF, 20th Century Worship, featured songs that were just a little too old to meet the Criteria for the countdown. Our second NERF Come Just As You Are by Crystal Lewis, didn't make the cut because I may have forgotten it. In the case of Sarah Reeves, none of her very high quality catalog makes the list because she's just a little too fresh and new be considered 'All-Time' status.

Hey, that's Zooey Deschanel. What's she doing here? Read on to find out.
Miss Reeves(2) also isn't part of any big worship factory conglomerate (that I know of), and this makes her more of an independent artist and less likely to get the gigantic mainstream following of the Jesus Culture and Passion etc folks. Some of her best work are her Acoustic Worship Covers Vol 1 and 2. I don't want to diminish these works as 'add-ons' to her other stuff. These two CDs are really, really well done. I put the video up for her cover of Holy Spirit/Set A Fire last week in Andy's Extras 2.

(2) I actually don't know if it's 'Miss' Reeves or 'Mrs' Reeves or something else. My guess is she's still single, she doesn't give off the 'married lady' vibe. Oops. With the last remark, it appears that I may have inadvertently alienated a large segment of my audience. Oh well, welcome to my blog.

But the real reason Miss Reeves is here is that she has some great, great music - and that's why we're all here, presumably. Sure, Sarah Reeves might not make it on the 100 Best Worship Songs of All Time right now; but I'm pretty sure that when I re-do this list when I'm 65 she'll have a few songs on it.

Speaking of which, since there may be a bunch of you not familiar with her work, let's get to some of it. This first song, God of the Impossible, shows off her ability to do that elusive pop/worship song made so famous by the wonderful and luminous Jaime Jamgochian. It's a good, catchy tune that also doubles as a neat sort of God declaration song:



Now, as a guy who sits alone in his little room and types out this stuff every week for a bunch of people I've never met, my best hope is that someone out there is saying right now "I've never really heard of Sarah Reeves, but I like this song". Or alternatively, saying, "Oh, I've heard that song - so THAT'S Sarah Reeves - Me likey!".

I'm one of those guys who hears a good song and sends it out to his friends. If I like it, I want my friends to like it as well. Perhaps this is because I have a beautiful spirit and I see myself as one who exists solely to bring joy to others. Or, perhaps it's because I'm a lonely guy who lives alone with his 3, 5, 7 cats and lives for the approval of others.(3)

(3) I'll work that one out with my therapist and get back to you.

Either way, I enjoy sharing music with others who I think might enjoy it, and I have a pretty good track record of being right most of the time. I mean, I am the "#1 Ranked Worship Blogger in the History of the Internet"; it says so right up in the top right next to the title. And believe me, you don't just get to have the title of #1 Ranked Worship Blogger in the History of the Internet" by giving it to yourself.(4)

(4) There is a significant amount of evidence that that is exactly how I got that title.

So, anyway, that's my hope. That some of you unfamiliar with some of the great Sarah Reeves stuff will find something new here that you enjoy. Towards that end is our next SarBear offering.(5) This one is called Come Save and is the inspiration for the big banner at the top of this page. It's kind of a somewhat haunting little melody that really showcases Sarah's wonderful voice. Just let your ears tell your heart how to feel.

(5) I call her SarBear, my little nickname for her. We're pretty close - BFFs actually. 


I just LOVE that voice. When I first heard her songs randomly on Pandora, I thought that it might be Kari Jobe singing. There's just something about that voice that really hits me every time I hear SarBear sing. It's like this: her voice to my ears is what chocolate is like to my tongue. But you know what, here's a better way to put it: When I hear Sarah's voice start singing a song, it's like this:

I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away

Yep, that's what it is. The perfection of Sarah Reeves' voice is analogous to the intro and first verse of Boston's More Than A Feeling. It's the same type of etheral, other-wordly perfection. Young people - you're gonna have to google this one. And then follow the trail to youtube and be prepared for the rock music perfection that is More Than A Feeling.

These guys were AWESOME! Why would Marianne walk away from them?
And the last thing that is great about Sarah Reeves - which admittedly shouldn't matter AT ALL when compiling this list - is that she is stone-cold adorable. She makes kittens look like frogs. At this point, I am struggling mightily to find a way to describe the quality 'adorable' without sounding weird and creepy. I'm sorry, I can't do it. I wonder if explaining it like that made me sound weird and creepy?

Sure, at this point in her career, Sarah Reeves can't be the Beatles of modern worship music or the Madonna of modern worship music. But you know what, she can be the Zooey Deschannel of modern worship music - and I mean that in the best possible way. (I'm a big Zooey fan - she's America's snow globe, imo).

I'll end this rather wordy Sarah Reeves love-fest with probably my personal fav, Awaken.(6) According to the youtube video, Sarah and her band shot this video in the green room at Jacksonville, Florida festival. Whenever I'm out mowing the lawn and this song comes on my iPod, my heart starts to dance like it's 22 again (copyright: Taylor Swift). This video is EXACTLY what I mean when I say 'adorable'. Enjoy.

(6) Fun Fact: I have 4 songs in my iTunes titled 'Awaken', including song #99 on this very list, by Natalie Grant. Fun Fact #2 - I've broken my personal record for footnotes.



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